GLEN CARBON - Marquette Catholic and Father McGivney Catholic are two of the top girls basketball teams in the area this season. Marquette is now 7-5 after playing some tough competition and McGivney has also battled some difficult foes, but stands 8-3 overall.
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Marquette and Father McGivney collided Thursday night at McGivney, and the Explorers used a high-pressure defense to force 32 turnovers, while Chloe White led the Explorers with 18 points as Marquette won a Gateway Metro Conference girls basketball game over Father McGivney Catholic 52-34 at the McGivney gym Thursday night.
Marquette used its press to create a quick run at the start and didn't look back in taking the win.
"I thought we played great from the start," said Explorer head coach Lee Green. "We jumped on them early with a 6-0 run in the first 30 seconds. We forced 32 turnovers, and I thought we executed really well."
The Explorers used their pressure to help them take a 13-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, then doubled up on the Griffins 18-9 in the third to go on to the win.
"Marquette brought out a lot of pressure, we didn't handle it very well and they got us out of what we wanted to do," said McGivney coach Jeff Oller. "They're a long, athletic team, but we had some good runs defensively in the half-court in the first half, but in the second half, we had to play more pressure defense, we had to play in transition offensively more, but we were able to hit some shots, but we were unable to get some stops."
Oller is hoping that his team uses the game as a learning experience to prepare for their upcoming games going into the Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran Holiday tournament.
"Hopefully, we can use this as a learning experience tonight," Oller said.
The Explorers used their quick run in the opening seconds to take their 13-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, then led at halftime 20-11, expanded the advantage to 38-20 after the third quarter, with both teams ending the fourth quarter tied 14-14.
Along with White's game-leading 18 points, the Explorers got 16 points from Alyssa Powell, nine points from Abby Williams, seven points from Jillian Nelson and two points from Haley Rodgers.
Sami Oller lead McGivney with nine points, while Alexis Bond scored eight points, Mary Harkins had seven points, Charlize Luehmann scored six points and Riley Zumwalt came up with four points on the night.
"We're just trying to grow every day," Oller said. "We've got some things that we can fix, and we also feel we're doing some things strong. Our goal is to be playing our best basketball at the end of the year."
The Explorers next play at home against Collinsville on Monday night in a 7:30 p.m. tip. The Griffins play host Mascoutah Thursday in an 11 a.m start.
FATHER MCGIVNEY CATHOLIC 39, GREENVILLE 35: In the curtain-raiser of the Greenville Shootout, McGivney held off the host Comets to take a close win.
Charlize Luehmann led the Griffins with 18 points, while Mary Harkins had 10 points, Alexis Bond scored five points, Riley Zumwalt had four points and Sami Oller had two points.
McGivney is now 8-3, while Greenville slips to 3-8.
The Griffins open play in the COR Holiday tournament against Madison on Dec. 27 at 3:30 p.m. Oller will continue his approach of getting better game-by-game, peaking at the right time in February and March, when the IHSA playoffs get underway.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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